Thaindian News

It is said that Wal-mart Stores Inc is cutting 700 - 800 jobs at at its Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club home offices as the world’s largest retailer looks to realign its corporate structure and reduce costs.

The retail which has around 14,000 employees at its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas, said that it is eliminating jobs in merchandising, real estate and marketing in its Wal-Mart US division, while cutting merchandising positions at its Sam’s Club warehouse division.

‘We will continue to take appropriate steps to further align our support structure with our business plans,’ said Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke in a memo obtained by Reuters. Duke began serving in the role on Feb. 1.

‘We must also challenge costs in every corner of the company in order to keep our business strong today and well into the future,’ he said.

Retailers including Target Corp and department store operator Macy’s Inc have announced job cuts in recent weeks as the recession crimps sales.Wal-Mart’s sales at US stores open at least a year have been outpacing its competitors, but the retailer has said it would keep a close eye on expenses amid the economic downturn. Wal-Mart, which has 2.2 million employees worldwide, still expects to hire thousands of workers for its stores this year, said spokesman David Tovar.

General Motors Corp will also be slashing its global salaried work force by about 10,000,this year and impose pay cuts on most remaining white-collar US workers as it scrambles to reduce costs under a restructuring mandated by its U.S. government bailout. GM, which was granted US$13.4 billion of government loans in December, said it would cut its salaried work force to about 63,000 from 73,000 during 2009.

About 3,400 of 29,500 white-collar jobs will be cut from the automaker’s home market, The GM had 44,000 salaried employees in the United States, the majority of them in southeast Michigan. Most jobs will be cut by May 1, and most remaining US staff will see pay cuts of between 3 per cent and 10 per cent for the year, GM said.

Chrysler LLC, also received US$4 billion in government loans and is seeking an additional US$3 billion, is currently offering buyouts to its US hourly work force after cutting more than 8,000 salaried jobs in 2008.

The world’s largest athletic shoe and clothing maker, Nike Inc, said on Tuesday it could cut up to four percent of its workforce to reduce costs as it restructures its business. Up to 1,400 jobs out of about 35,000 globally could be cut.